FALLUJA: US officials believe the deaths of Saddam Hussein’s sons will help staunch attacks on US troops in Iraq. But Iraqis in the restive town of Falluja on Friday forecast more bloodshed until the Americans leave.

“We will fight and fight until they leave. We will wage Jihad against these Americans,” said 15-year-old Badr Muhammad, glaring at heavily armed soldiers protecting a stalled convoy as helicopters circled overhead.

Few residents had seen the photographs of the bodies of Saddam’s feared sons Uday and Qusay published in Iraqi newspaper and even fewer seemed interested in the evidence.

The US military hopes the deaths of the brothers will break the will of sympathizers whom Washington blames for attacks that have killed 44 US troops since major combat was declared over on May 1.

But Falluja residents dismissed suggestions that their deaths in a gunbattle in Mosul will ease the AK-47 and rocket- propelled grenade attacks on US occupation troops.

In shops, street corners and cafes in this anti-American town, Iraqis said only an end to the occupation will stop the violence.

“I don’t understand why the Americans say it is the former Baath Party people who are killing their soldiers. All Iraqis want to kill the Americans because of the way they act,” said Muhammad Abbas, who owns a shop that sells natural honey.

Many Iraqis still do not believe that Uday and Qusay are dead. But whether they are or not, resentment will remain deep in Falluja, which lies in the triangle where Saddam had his powerbase, until the Americans leave.

US troops shot dead 17 people in Falluja in April, saying they had come under fire. Eight more people died three months later in a mosque explosion that Iraqis blamed on an American air strike. US military officials denied the accusation.

Since then, Iraqis have frequently complained that US troops conduct heavy-handed searches of their homes, frisking women and forcing the heads of households to kneel handcuffed in front of neighbours.

US troops say they cannot afford to let their guard down during searches because they would risk attack.

Tribal Sheikh Diab al Ersan does not know whether the deaths of Uday and Qusay will stop the attacks on American soldiers, but is still boiling from what happened in the early morning.

“US troops surrounded the neighbourhood. More than 30 broke the door down and raided the house. They busted up the place and arrested my two sons,” he said, as members of his tribes sat and shook their heads.

“The Americans just come here and do what they want. They have no respect for other countries. They are holding my sons and I don’t know why.”

At one of Falluja’s biggest mosques, the Friday sermon delivered by Sheikh Mekki al-Kubaisi encouraged about 1,000 worshippers to wage a holy struggle focused on teaching their children about Islam and the Holy Quran, not violence.

But moderation seemed to have little appeal in Falluja. “The Americans don’t realize that it is not people connected to Uday and Qusay that are doing the killings. A lot of it is revenge, tribal revenge,” said Hisham Jumili, who is unemployed.

“Tribal revenge can take 20 years and there are about 15 tribes in Falluja. If the Americans kill someone, there will definitely be revenge.”—Reuters